The Navigation Debate 

Overview

The Navigation Debate is an SSAISB-sponsored event, which will be part of this year's annual AISB convention (AISB-06) in Bristol.

The event will combine two short (~40 min) talks approaching the topic from a biological and an engineering perspective. This will be followed by a public panel discussion, where academics and representatives of the industry would discuss their experience, interests, and expected future trends. An attempt will be made to create a short summary of the main ideas, questions or examples that have been brought up at any time during the event. The resulting one-page summary will be circulated to all panel members, and, if approved, published on the Web. Such a statement could facilitate the search for collaboration, point other researchers (including PhD students) to questions of interest, or give additional weight to future research (and development) proposals.

If successful, the event will become an annual feature, serving three purposes:

• present alternative viewpoints on a hot topic in the area of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour, and discuss expected future trends 
• bring together academics and industrial partners to allow both sides to discuss their ideas, needs, and experience in the field 
• create a public event offering PhD students and new researchers a critical view of the field and the chance to make contacts.

The members of the panel include:

• Kate Jeffery (UCL)
• Dimitar Kazakov (University of York, organiser)
• Brian Bell (BAE Systems)
• Malcolm Strens (QinetiQ)

Programme

The programme is expected to be as follows:

• 14:00 - 14:10h (Introduction) 
• 14:10 - 14:50h (talk: The biological basis of navigation - unravelling the cognitive map by Kate Jeffery, UCL)
• 14:50 - 15:30h (talk: Passive Navigation for Robots and Vehicles by Malcolm Strens, QinetiQ) 
• 15:30 - 16:00h (Coffee break) 
• 16:00 - 16:55h (Panel discussion)